On This Day: May 19
1712 — Peter I moves the capital of Russian Empire from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Called the "window to Europe", it was a seaport and also a base for Peter's navy. St. Petersburg would remain the capital for almost 200 years, from 1712 to1918.
1897 — Irish poet Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol
1908 — Russian impresario Sergey Dyagilev produces Modest Mussorgsky’s opera
Boris Godunov at the Paris Opéra with Fyodor Chaliapin in the title role
1910 — Passage of Earth through tail of Halley's Comet causes near-panic
2008 — Sukhoi Superjet 100 makes its maiden flight.
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